IMDB is closing its message boards soon

[A Casual Fitz]

I really don't like this. I fear where the low-IQ hooligans will migrate to.

http://www.imdb.com/board/announcement

IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluate and enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDb's message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.

 

[shortylickens]

IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users

Let me tell ya, THEY AINT LYIN!!!!

 

[Charmonium]

So let me ask just one question. Are the posts there better or worse than the comments sections on youtube?

 

[A Casual Fitz]

It's different because the boards are based on the specific movie or show. Just as stupid, but a little more focused.

 

[sandorski]

Forums are slowly dying. Mainly due to schmucks who don't get along well with others, usually intentionally.

 

[Imp]

So let me ask just one question. Are the posts there better or worse than the comments sections on youtube?

Better. Even the flaming and trolling tries to start a discussion on IMDB, not just a one-off "lulz, I think I'm funny" like on YT and Twitter.

 

[MongGrel]

I'm not surprised, new trolls tend to think they are doing original things in that category these days, in massive numbers.

It was just a matter of time.

I never bothered with it myself other than trying to step on them, but whack-a-mole on many forums is almost impossible these days.

One of the reasons I hang out here a lot, AT is pretty good at filtering them out.

 

[Murloc]

I never used them and so does the majority of users I bet.

I went there for a minute and everybody cites some dedicated trolls as being one of the causes.

Forums are slowly dying. Mainly due to schmucks who don't get along well with others, usually intentionally.

well reddit is just fine and it's technically a forum, I think because bad posts get downvoted so fast that they're autohidden in a few minutes. That system also means you get huge echo chambers, but it's alive and well and kills trolls and idiots.
Forums have been monopolized.

Also the generic non-special interest discussion has been taken over in part by twitter/twitter reactions, comment sections below articles (disqus has a huge userbase) and facebook posts, and facebook groups.

There is still space for traditional forums and some do very well but the competition has increased.

 

[superstition]

That system also means you get huge echo chambers

Case in point: DailyTech.

Too much intellectually-fraudulent drivel in the comments there because of the voting system. I quit reading it because of that. If ever there was a demonstration of the fact that argumentum ad populum is fallacious.

 

[Murloc]

Case in point: DailyTech.

Too much intellectually-fraudulent drivel in the comments there because of the voting system. I quit reading it because of that. If ever there was a demonstration of the fact that argumentum ad populum is fallacious.

I stopped reading dailytech mostly because certain articles were too unprofessional if not just plain uninformed, or suffering from severe mission creep.

 

[superstition]

Yes, there was that, too.

 

[Paladin3]

Where else am I gonna get my daily dose of "WORST. MOVIE. EVAR!!!!!!" from?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Didn't even know they had any forums. Been using the site for years.

 

[MongGrel]

I do not even look at their forums, but trolls are why we can not have nice things a lot of the time.

 

[superstition]

I do not even look at their forums, but trolls are why we can not have nice things a lot of the time.

Trolls are rarely the problem from what I've seen in forums, unless they're literally harassing people by releasing personal data and such. Hacker trolls are a whole different issue. With normal trolls, people can usually figure out who's trolling, especially as posters gain a reputation. Corrupt (or too busy to pay enough attention) moderation is usually the problem. The worst forums I've seen are the ones where there is an echo chamber that is propped up by those in charge (the trolls' trolling is supported and even mods can post abusive things and behave abusively with things like temp bans). Vague forum rules that can mean almost anything is a red flag, too.

From the point of view of site management, aggressive trolls are probably a big problem, if they're capable hackers and especially if they have capable hacker friends. Those without that capability aren't so tough to deal with since it's hard to hide oneself on the Internet unless one is quite knowledgeable, especially when forums require a billion Javascripts. Also, though, some sites would rather have a community that's active, even if it means having a bunch of active trolls stirring the point, rather than a forum that's so dull that most move elsewhere. It can be a delicate balancing act. Too much chaos is bad and too little can be, too.

 

[MongGrel]

 

[superstition]

Don't worry. I bored myself with my post. I almost erased it but then decided that I'd put too much time into it to not unload the misery onto the world at large.

Win some, lose some.

 

[13Gigatons]

IMDB went downhill after Amazon bought them. Recently went there to write a quick review of a film I had seen and they wanted 1000 words which was more then the entire movie had in it. I just canceled the review and chose to rate it instead.

 

[Anubis]

i didnt know IMDB even had a message board until this news about it closing

 

[Murloc]

IMDB went downhill after Amazon bought them. Recently went there to write a quick review of a film I had seen and they wanted 1000 words which was more then the entire movie had in it. I just canceled the review and chose to rate it instead.

wow that's dumb, 1000 words is a lot.
I'd understand 500 which is a bit less than 5 tweets.

 

[Balt]

I actually kind of liked this feature. I never visited their stand-alone forums, but occasionally it was interesting to browse the message boards for individual films (i.e. the posts all the way at the bottom of the movie's page). Plenty of trolls, but they are usually pretty obvious from the thread titles and easy to ignore.

 

[Imp]

I'm going to miss reading those forums and who has nice tits or who really sucks.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Is this just a message board trend? We've had maybe 5 posts in OT in last 30 minutes. That's getting close to the same frequency as when I used to dial up the local BBS and read those message boards.

 

[DigDog]

i suspect the reason why they are shutting down the ability to post threads (they were not proper forums in the classic sense of the word) is because the threads are not monitored and people can post all sort of stuff there, some of which is non-family-friendly, if you get my drift.
the only other user-made content on IMDb is the reviews, which are screened and censored if there is content that can offend.

 

[goobee]

They have a pretty serious problem with people attacking others simply because they don't agree with them. People can't like or not like a movie without being subject to abuse and insults.